Abstract
As multi-robot systems (MRS) become more affordable, they transition from being used in controlled research laboratories into practical environments. For example, in a physical environment it is critical to maintain network connectivity in cooperative multi-robot teams (MRT). However, communication quality is not covered in as much detail as other research topics in MRS. In this field of research the majority of works investigate aspects of communication quality and network connectivity, but present exclusive solutions for very particular problems, and very few show physical (real world) results.The MRComm (Multi-Robot Communication) framework presented here contributes towards a better understanding of the effects of communication quality on MRTs. MRComm is created to be used for both simulated and physical robot experiments whilst allowing different communication parameters (i.e. network types and network perturbations) to be applied to the robot team. The results from said experiments are used to analyse MRT performance.
The network types implemented in MRComm are: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and Ad-Hoc (AH) network. This is the first time that ROS (Robot Operating System) has been used to connect multiple robots in a self-made AH network to analyse the communication in cooperative task execution.
The MRComm framework can subject a MRT to one, two or no network parameters. Four network perturbations are designed and integrated into MRComm. These are: Simulated Packet-Loss (SPL), which drops a static amount of shared mission messages; simulated Signal Loss Threshold (SLT), a threshold limit established using signal strength and distance; Simulated Signal strength Degradation (SSD), modelled using two separate Support Vector Regression (SVR) models, one for direct line-of-sight and the other for obstructed line-of-sight, which are combined together to model the parameter; and Effective Signal strength Degradation (ESD), obtained directly from the robots in the network. Moreover, MRComm is integrated with a unique Leader-Follower (LF) behaviour, which is a novel approach to mitigate most network connection issues and support uninterrupted communication.
| Date of Award | 1 Sept 2020 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisor | Elizabeth Sklar (Supervisor) & Simon Miles (Supervisor) |